Wednesday, July 30, 2008

New Death Row Costs $40 Million More Than Expected

Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 9:16 AM

The new Death Row under construction at San Quentin is projected to exceed construction costs by $40 million, the Chron reports. This ain't exactly the best moment to get this sort of news, seeing as how California has a $15 billion deficit. But here's an even more unsettling factoid: California has executed fourteen inmates since the death penalty became an option again. Now, the state has 674 inmates awaiting execution. And unless the state gets the courts to approve its plan to house the condemned two men to a cell, the new Death Row's capacity of 1,152 inmates could be filled in as few as three years.

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